Project Triangle Strategy: Octopath Tactics

[YangusKhan]

Here's the eShop demo.

I played about 2 hours of the demo last night, which was only enough for 1 battle and a bunch of cutscenes, but I was definitely more impressed by this than the debut demo for Octopath Traveler. It's very much in the Tactics Ogre lineage of Square Enix TRPGs, and it doesn't seem like they're gonna add the job system complexity of Final Fantasy Tactics, which has some merit for not bogging the game down into too much systems complexity.

 

[Violentvixen]

I just finished the demo and very much liked it. The information gathering, persuasion and voting stuff seems really cool and I enjoyed it a lot.

When they do the feedback survey I'll definitely note that I'd like one more level of zooming out on the map, but I don't have any other immediate feedback.

I refused to surrender Roland, did anyone surrender him? I'm curious just how different the paths are. I'll probably give the demo another playthrough at some point too.

 

[Peklo]

I just finished the demo. There's a lot going for it.

I'm usually unable to get into tactical RPGS because they're these impersonal sequences of murderboxes but what this game does is what Shining Force used to and Three Houses somewhat recently did in providing a space to wander around and explore a little in the intermissionary scenes between battles and story scenes, and even more impressively it ties that play space into the central moral convictions that guide the characters, through the voting processes they undertake to decide on a course of action, and the opportunity given to the player in trying to persuade others to the cause you want to support. The game's driven by a lot of the Tactics Ogre-informed obscured morality that the game stresses at every turn that it won't lift the veil on as far as the immediate consequences or explicitly reveal the protagonist's own player-informed standing. Just the ability to linger in the diorama spaces and poking around in them or rotating the camera at will makes me more invested in this than something purely menu-driven would've accomplished.

The character designer is the same as in Octopath, and there are actually some pretty awesome female character designs here, and over the course of the demo the playable roster (at least according to the choices I made) had women eclipse the men in number. The biggest point of criticism is that Ikushima has trouble or is not interested in providing much of a body diversity at all for the cast, with men having some variance to support archetypes but women getting nothing but thin and fit. Still, you've got a powerhouse woman general clad in full armour with no boobplate and somewhat atypical facial features according to how beauty standards in this kind of art style goes as a dominating antagonistic force, and lots of other interesting stuff that makes me want to see more on that front too.

Is the writing good? Hard to really say from the self-admitted in medias res vertical slice offered here, though I followed the character relations just fine. It seems like storytelling mostly invested in a lot of machinations and moving parts so if that intrigues it can deliver that in a compellingly dry way. The writing staff doesn't seem like the same people as Octopath, which to me is promising, as I loathed a lot of what that game did, and if aesthetics are what will carry over the most, then this is better off for it. And it does look like something one might have daydreamed about for the way it embodies that kind of miniature dollhouse presentation that eventually codified around its inspirational models.

Biggest surprise: it's being developed by Artdink. Wha?

 

[Pajaro Pete]

Biggest surprise: it's being developed by Artdink. Wha?

Apparently Artdink is responsible for the PS1 ports of Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre and maybe that's why they were tapped for this project?

 

[chady]

If the music and style of Octopath could be married with something that had an interesting story, then I'm pretty much sold.

The voting/persuasion mechanic sounds like a great idea for a decision tree plot, like in Tactics Ogre.

 

[Violentvixen]

The character designer is the same as in Octopath, and there are actually some pretty awesome female character designs here, and over the course of the demo the playable roster (at least according to the choices I made) had women eclipse the men in number. The biggest point of criticism is that Ikushima has trouble or is not interested in providing much of a body diversity at all for the cast, with men having some variance to support archetypes but women getting nothing but thin and fit. Still, you've got a powerhouse woman general clad in full armour with no boobplate and somewhat atypical facial features according to how beauty standards in this kind of art style goes as a dominating antagonistic force, and lots of other interesting stuff that makes me want to see more on that front too.

I realized a couple turns into the last battle of the demo I forgot to deploy the shaman lady I'd recruited. Her body type looked a little different but it's hard to tell.

 

[Peklo]

She looked like the same template for women that this artist sticks with, with emphasized breasts in profile, and really the only instance of a deliberately sexualized woman that I saw. I also had no room for her in my deployment lineup!

The music is by Akira Senju, mostly a TV and anime composer. Some credits: Mama is a 4th Grader (that one's for me), Victory Gundam, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I only liked a few tracks in Octopath so I'm happy about this change too.

 

[Violentvixen]

Huh! Sounds like I misinterpreted the pixel art then. I thought she had spiky/bony shoulder guards and a really boxy muscular look overall.

 

[Peklo]

If you're unsure about interpreting character pixel art, pressing X brings up a contextual profile with their names, titles and portraits any time during dialogue, for the displayed line's speaker. It's one of my favourite things about this from a design standpoint, and made me anticipate new character appearances more because of it.

 

[WildcatJF]

I see a LOT of the Ogre series in this and that has me hype more than anything else.

 

[Peklo]

I love the protagonist's voice acting. So wooden you couldn't spot him in a forest.

 

[Issun]

It's... entertaining? to hear YouTube personalities like Arlo and David V repeatedly lobby for a name change when the words "Working Title" are incredibly visible.

 

[spines]

i had to look it up because i paid almost no attention to octopath after hearing that it was associated with bravely default, but i saw someone saying (and wikipedia agrees) that "octopath traveler" was similarly introduced as a "working title" prefaced with "project" but was then the final title as well. (i did listen to the music after i learned that nishiki was composing it, although unsurprisingly it was pretty safe compared to the weird stuff he was doing for bemani for a few years. still alright with a few standouts but i wasn't blown away)

the trailer does make this sound a bit dept. heaven-ish (gungnir having a similar team attack mechanic in particular, though your guys kind of magically do it from distances that increase as you control more territory on the map rather than gaming the enemy positions in the same way), so i guess i'll probably have to download the demo, although i rarely finish trpg-adjacent games that are more than 20-25 hours for a playthrough and i'm feeling a little skeptical that's what they're shooting for here hahaha

 

[Phantoon]

It's... entertaining? to hear YouTube personalities like Arlo and David V repeatedly lobby for a name change when the words "Working Title" are incredibly visible.

Yeah, as spines says "Octopath Traveller" was also the working title, and it would have been a strange move to publicise the game with a demo, get hype, then change the name afterwards. Octopath is weird but it kind of works. Triangle Strategy is a worse name in my opinion, but it's memorable. Should they change it now? No idea.

 

[Fyonn]

Here's my idea for a title: Saltiron Triangle.
I think Triangle or something referencing three is important to the game's identity, thanks to the three countries and three ideological axis? axeses? axi?

Haven't played the demo yet, but I'm excited to here in like an hour after work. The fact that the conflict is over salt and iron has powerful "oh the writers have read a book before" energy. A less trust-inspiring game would have the conflict be over soulstone or ancient relics or something.

 

[Kazin]

I'm usually unable to get into tactical RPGS because they're these impersonal sequences of murderboxes but what this game does is what Shining Force used to and Three Houses somewhat recently did in providing a space to wander around and explore a little in the intermissionary scenes between battles and story scenes

This is one of the things I usually miss about tactical games, being able to wander around and such (though I'm currently playing the Game Gear Shining Force games which don't allow you to do this, so I suppose I'm a hypocrite lol).

I've not played the demo - is permadeath a thing, or is it like Shining Force where I can revive my team in between battles?

 

[Peklo]

My humblebrag is that I don't know because no one died for me, but I think I saw someone else say a character who died for them was fine for the next battle.

There are definitely significant branches even within this demo: at least one other recruit in addition to the two that joined me exists, and the big choice going into the second skirmish completely dictates the circumstances around the second battle--map, opposition, everything. It's pretty promising.

 

[Lokii]

I love the protagonist's voice acting. So wooden you couldn't spot him in a forest.

I played the first battle and tbh the voice acting is absolutely killing the experience for me. I would turn it off but some of it, like the narrator, is really good! But the principal cast is, frankly, at a Mischief Makers pull-em-off-the-street-and-shove-them-into-a-recording-booth level of stodginess, to the point I wonder if they're placeholder tracks. I know it's a little thing, and it def has that camp aspect, but it soured me pretty hard on the demo. :\

 

[Kazin]

You can turn the voice acting off, though, right?

 

[Lokii]

You can turn down the volume to 0 for speech, yeah.

 

[Fyonn]

So it crashed on me, I think because of triggering Opportune Attack at the same time as taking the Open Gate action.
Not redoing that, but crash aside, this is incredible. Tons of quality of life stuff that I found surprising like highlighting squares enemies can hit you from.
Game seems like it's going to have characters, not classes. Might not even have playable generics from the way it looks to me. Characters have interesting combinations of skills, and the idea that skills can have specific passive upgrades to them (i.e. Cure Wounds having For Those In Need) is exciting. Could mean characters who can do the same thing, but with different nuances and / or skills that remain useful for the whole game as new passives help them keep pace.

 

[YangusKhan]

It took me entirely too long to finish the second battle, mostly because I was playing too conservatively I think, but also I had 1 person die and then after that they were fine, so no permadeath here it seems. I am definitely tempted to replay the demo whenever I finish it and see how the branching path plays out differently.

My favorite unit from a gameplay perspective is Anna -- they took the Assassin/Thief archetype and made her incredibly satisfying to play around with. I wonder how different recruits show up. I would guess it's based on both which story branches you take but also which "alignment" you follow the most.

 

[Lokii]

I do like the name "Triangle Strategy." Out of the titles in Square's Nonsense Name series I think it's the best.

 

[Juno]

Having a typical job/class system might actually work against the game as it is established. If one of the hooks of branching paths is that certain characters may join/leave based on your decisions, that will have more weight if you don’t have the flexibility to change your units’ classes to fill whatever holes are created by your decisions.

Granted, there are ways to make characters have unique abilities even with a class system (FE3H had unique skills, varying weapon proficiencies, and different access to magic skills) but I think locking characters into classes works here.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Octangle Traveltics

 

[Issun]

Octangle Traveltics

Octoprime Stratveler

 

[WildcatJF]

Eight times the Tactics

 

[Torzelbaum]

PTST

 

[Bongo]

It's been a long time since I've played a Tactics Ogre descendant, but I think I'm ready to love again. I've always wanted to walk around in a TRPG box.

I overextended myself a bit in the first battle and lost Anna because I forgot that I can use items, but she seemed to be alive afterward. Just missed out on the killin' she could've done for the rest of the battle and the EXP she'd have gotten from it.

 

[nataeryn]

I agree with the points that the main character's voice acting is not good in the demo.